131mirafiori forum

On my Xmas list by Veloce publishing, should be a good read and if anything like the Guy Croft tuning manual  anticipate demand may well outstrip supply, although  I did buy the GC at half price !! all those years ago now.

Desirable motoring books and now out of print do seem to attract good prices these days, I have x2  R Klein on "Rally cars" and "Rally" both are quite sought after now and a delight to read.

Apologise if previously posted I do seem to miss links so often, looking forward now to next years run to Italy...........in the old 131, she will be ready by then.

Cheers anyway   :)

Ian

How did you hear of this book Ian? It's certainly news to me - and probably many other 131 owners too :o

Can't see it being as popular as GC's tuning manual though, as the 131 book doesn't cater for so many owners as the Twin Cam bible does.

Is it already published or is it due to be? If so, when? Any idea of cost?

Looks like I've been guzzumped then :-\ I've been planning to write a book on the 131 for ages - I suppose I should have done something it about it years ago.

Cheers, Simon

Here is a link to details. Its coming soon......

http://www.veloce.co.uk/shop/products/productDetail.php?prod_id=V4182&prod_group=Cars%20Vans%20&%20Trucks&

Thanks Dave.

Looks to me to be one in a series on Rally cars, and this book is specifically about the 131 Abarth alone, and it's rallying evolution, successes and history. A great book I'm sure, and one that will certainly grace my shelves ;D, but after a quick glance at the chapter titles, I doubt that it will refer too much to the model that spawned it :-\

Perhaps I should start writing ???

Simon, suggest you MUST get in touch with a publisher, an old friend Terry Horler wrote his book on the Midget & Sprite an excellent book with exact details on cars produced colours etc etc with help of the heritage archives but drew on members cars at the time alas my RWA Midget was not deemed good enough.

Im certain he will give advice on how long it took and marriage survival plans etc.

I think you are the ideal person, even now I get confused with the Mk2 & 3 series differences, I thought my year 1982 were all with the deep side door mouldings but appears not be the case?

Go on start writing....now

Cheers Ian

How about writing Part 3 of the 131 Story  for the website first?  ;D

Mmmmmm - I wondered if you'd bring this up Theo ;D I got told off for being too sentimental when I wrote my piece for the series 2, so I was holding back until something better was written by someone else for the series three :-\

I spoke about pulling together a book on the 131 with Phil Ward a good few years ago now, and he promised me all of his publishing contacts if I were to call him. I guess I chickened out :-\ Perhaps I should call him and see if his offer still stands.

Ian, I might even give your man a call too, to get his perspective ;D

But no one has replied to my question about the LSD on 131 racings

Nick, LSDs are nothing to do with this thread are they?

I'll tell you what I know. I don't have any knowledge of any 131 in the UK being fitted with an LSD - from the factory or otherwise, but Theo had one fitted in his silver 131 Sport (DDL) for a while, at one time in the past, so they must have been available.

He has already said in a thread on this site, that the LSD was not very useful for everyday usage, and he quickly changed the axle back to the 'factory settings'.

More than that I don't know. :-\ I personally wouldn't fit one to a 131 I owned - seems to be a very expensive way to get rid of the all the fun :-\

No, Simon, you weren't told off, it was simply a passing comment and certainly no reason or excuse for not writing Part 3  ;D You know it will be good practice for writing the book.  ;D ;D

sorry i just stuck that in if you were going to write a book on 131s i just thought you could answer my question seems not sorry again

The answer to your question is: None. I am talking about standard production cars here and in that I am not including homologation specials such as the Abarth Stradale or limited production cars such as the Volumetricos. The LSDs were available as an optional extra on the 131 Sport/Racing and as Simon has mentioned above I had one fitted for a while to my Silver 131 Sport. I don't know of any other cars fitted with them and you can't tell from the outside as the axles look the same. There's a little plate on the axles fitted with LSD stating so and I believe the oil filler plugs have 'LSD' on them. The oil for LSDs is different to the oil for ordinarry diffs and in fact the LSDs will be damaged if filled with standard hypoid gear oil. I am surprised that so many people here claimed to have had 131s with LSDs and I'd question those claims by saying "how do you know?". Claims of sideways driving due to LSD are unsound as an LSD is supposed to reduce or eliminate the tendency to drive sideways.

The LSDs fitted to the 131s are 'torque sensitive' and use friction plates or clutches to exert a braking force on the spinning drive shaft and hence transmit torque to the other drive shaft.  The more drive shaft input torque present, the harder the clutches are pressed together, and thus the more closely the drive wheels are coupled to each other.  With no or little input torque the drive wheels are still coupled somewhat as the clutches are always in contact to some degree, producing friction. The amount of preload (hence static coupling) on the clutches is determined by the general condition (wear) of the clutches and by how tightly they are shimmed. And they need to be shimmed quite often or the gap between the clutches gets too large and the 'limiting' of the LSD is lost. I had to have my LSD re-shimmed a couple of times and only got a few thousand miles of limiting out of the LSD before the clutches wore too much and would no longer limit the slipping.

thanks for that but there are enough twincam corollas doing circles around here & at any crossroads you will see the circles of rubber left by them my 131 sport FIB 1588 would do circles both of the rear wheels driving at the same time & all the 131 sports here were the same so they all had lsd as standard here, they also had 13" alloys as the uk ones had steel 14" wheels

I feel a book on 131's is a must at some point, Simon would be ideal and with all the other passionate fans via this Forum no shortage of assistance by photos or knowledge, I really didnt mean to start any literary wars though !!

At the end of the day its a story worth writing for that much I'm certain ......

I'm so ignorant on 131's that I thought all Volumetricos were 4 doors with those early Strada Abarth alloys .but I keep seeing 2 door versions as well ? .... so much for my knowledge then  !!

I'm OK on diecast models which I can just about afford to add to my collection now and again.

Simon If I can assist with part 3 in any way ? please let me know.

Cheers Ian

Thanks for your offer of assistance Ian.

I'm sure that you haven't started any 'literary wars' ;). The story of the series 3 has always needed to be written - and I guess that really I should have been a little more proactive - just that time has a habit of passing you by so quickly, and before you know where you are almost two years have passed :o

The Volumetrico Story is a completely wonderful, and little understood (even by me!) tale of the coming together of Fiat's production twin cam 131 with 'Works' tuning specialist technicians, to make a truely wonderful 'Q-car'. To my mind, by far the greatest expert on the Volumex on this Forum is our good friend from Holland, Albert. ;D When (if?) I put finger to keyboard to write the full 131 story he's the man I'll see first ;D

Nice Simon, you'll have my support! ;) The ultimate 131 book is an absolute must!

The total history of the 131 is very interesting. For many people the 131 was just a dull boxy saloon, but look further and you see that there are 3 series, there's the Abarth with all Rally successes( for sure worth a book on it's own!) and there is the interesting Volumetrico story, for me fascinating as these cars were the last" Fiat Abarths"made at corso Marche in the period the name changed into Lancia Corse. From the same year is the Lancia 037, also made at the same address. Later the Delta rally cars were prepared there too. And look at the Racing, as far as I know the only car ever you could order with different coloured bumpers!!

Ian, there is a lot you can find at this forum, go to general discussion and don't stay at page 1(as I expect almost everybody does!!) but go on and on. When you do that I promise you a very interesting and learnful evening! Watch at the Volumetrico items and you will find out a hell of a lot more! There are even pictures posted by my person from the works brochures(2 and 4 door)
Happy reading and we wait for your answer again?!

Greetings from Holland!

Thanks for the advice, I will always remember getting very drunk and dancing with Martin Willems fame to Status Quo, he also thrashed my old 131 to within an inch of her life !!

Good old days indeed, cheers again Ian

Ok guys,

Yes a new book with as many questions answered would be a great idea.....so when you're ready!

Now with regard to the Volumetrico.....oh no here I go again :-X......

The info I give here came from Mr Guiffre of the RIA & Mr Volta the former Abarth employee now collecter/restorer and was conveyed to me by Tony Berni & Dirk Bielstein about 4 years ago.
The last piece of info came from Roger Lyndhurst a former employee of Allard and also a former 131 racer in the Italian Intermarque series (he's currently building a 400+BHP Integrale engined/spaceframed 131 racecar.....but thats another story!)

Production of the Volumetrico:

75 4dr based on the 2000TC series 3
25 2dr based on the Racing

All cars were brand new and plucked from the production line at Mirafiori, hence why all the 4drs only have 1 door mirror from new (look at all the period photos).

The original intention by Abarth was to be a return to their glory days by offering the Volumetrico as a kit for aftermarket fitting or by themselves to customer cars.
This was quashed by FIATs senior management.
There were smaller compressors developed for other applications within the FIAT group but none of these made it to production after the management clampdown.

The actual marketing for the cars was done via FIAT dealerships and Abarth outlets and seems to have been a 'special offer' to new 131 customers
"This week ladies & gentlemen we are able to offer a little upgrade for your new 131" ....it beggers belief but thats how it was done  :D

The reason given for the limited production of only 100 is that these 131s cost FIAT a large sum of money that they could not recoup on the end asking price (no price figures have survived.....shame), and that a simpler cost effective version was required that could be fitted on existing production lines. This coincided with senior managements decision to promote Lancia as the new face of FIAT motorsport and a whole new range of high end Lancia road cars.
The SE035 track car project had halted and the proposed evolution of the 035/131 Bertone for rallying was abandoned.

Abarth parallel developed the FIAT and Lancia projects but with all the costing and political maneuvering going on within the FIAT group it meant that there could be only one winner under Corse Marche's roof.
The Lancia brand was to go on into production with the SE037 Competizione & Stradale models.

A further note is that the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo originally used a Volumetrico compressor but with a unique casing not used on either the 131 or SE037.


Allard & Abarth

The Abarth blowers were the end product of a data/experience/development collaboration  between Abarth and the UK compressor company Allard in the mid 70's.
Allard and Abarth employees were regularly sent to each others facilities for technical exchange & training. This ceased in and around mid 1977.

So there you have it, agree or disagree this is what has been relayed to me via reliable sources and discovered information. Its always going to be open to debate and interpretation but I think theres an obvious path within these snippets of info.

Here are some pics of the SE035 that I took at the World Abarth Meeting at Monza in 2000, a truly amazing weekend that I'll never forget. I'll post more shots of the other cars if you wish to drool  :D     
     

And here....

And again

Lastly.....

Hello Graham,

Thanks for the part of the story you got about Volumetrico's. I give here a part more of what I know about them, look also at the no158 part, there I put this evening also a bit more info.
At first I wanna tell that the smaller blower was used on the several Lancia Beta models, Coupe, HPE and Trevi.
About the total production figures: The italian magazines talk about un centinaio for the Supermirafiori 4 door and some Racings.
We expect it should be less than 200 4 doors and some 30 Racings. Although I have to say that when the production was as limited the survivalrate is extraordinary big!
About the around 200 4 doors I explain more in the other item.

Keep posting interesting info please....

The smaller unit was also used on the 124 Spidereuropa Volumex!

Thanks Albert,

Yes the smaller production unit was the Volumex.

There are pictures in some of Al Cosentino's books that show even smaller units for use on small engined cars in the FIAT group.
It was these small prototype blowers I was refering to that were ceased by FIATs chiefs.

Does anyone have any pictures or data on these small compressors?

Theres no doubt that the Volumetrico & Volumex were successful designs but the question has to be asked why did it end there? ......surely something could have survived the end of the Delta S4 programme and made it into production on the next generation of road cars 80's-90's.

I suppose the fuel consumption thing was a factor but compared to the turbos of that era there wasn't that much difference.

Any thoughts? 

I will have a look if I can find more in period Quattroruotes.